468 Letters, Extracts, Notices, §c. 



breeding of Falco bahylonicus : — " It may interest you to 

 know that a nest of the Red-naped Shahin (Falco bahylonicus) 

 was found on. the 13th May last in the Gumal Pass, in the 

 Waziri country, about 30 miles from Dera Ismail Khan. 

 The nest was taken by Mr. Donald, Political Officer at 

 Tamleh, and myself. It contained two young ones, a male 

 and a female, which would have left the nest in about a 

 week. I have these birds now in my possession. The nest 

 was found at an elevation of a little over 2000 feet. 



" Mr. Hume told me last year that this Falcon would pro- 

 bably be found breeding in the Sulimani range, but that he 

 was not aware that any European had ever found the nest. 



" Mr. Donald also shot an adult female of this Falcon 

 near Fort Munro about two years ago during the hot weather, 

 and I have seen others near Bahkri and Kingri, in Balu- 

 chistan, during the same season. Last year a native falconer 

 near Jhelum had two of these birds, which were said to have 

 been taken in the salt-range." — (D. C. Philott, Lieut. 3rd 

 Punjab Cavalry : Dera Ismail Khan, July 3rd, 1890.) 



The Gatke Collection. — Ornithologists will be much pleased 

 to hear that Mr. Seebohm has purchased the celebrated Bird- 

 Collection of Herr Gatke, of Heligoland, with the intention 

 of presenting it to the British Museum. The collection, 

 which is said to contain upwards of a thousand specimens, 

 referable to 396 species, is expected to arrive in England in 

 October. The specimens, which were all captured in this 

 wonderful little ornithological paradise, are mounted. They 

 will be arranged and exhibited in one series in the Natural 

 History Museum. We are informed that Herr Gatke's ex- 

 tensive notes on the Birds of Heligoland are now actually in 

 the press, and that an English edition of this long-expected 

 work will also be published. 



Obituary. — William Kitchen Parker, who died suddenly 

 at Cardiff on the 3rd of July last, at the age of 67 

 years, was not an Ornithologist in the ordinary sense of 

 the term, but has rendered such services in advancing our 



